Arrangement for charging extrusion presses with ingots, blooms or billets from metal



Jan 27 1959 o. A. GRANSTRM ErAL 2,870,920

ARRANGEMENT FOR CHARGING Ex'musrou PRESSES WITH INGTS, BLOOMS O ILLETS FRM METAL Filed Aug. 1955 2,870,920 `Patented Jan. 27, 1959 hice ARRANGEMENT FOR 'CHARGING EXTRUSIN PRESSES WITH INGOTS, BLOOMS R BILLETS FROM METAL Olof Alvar Granstrm and Erik G. M. Hackzell, Vasteras,

Sweden, assignors to Aktiebolaget Svenska Metallverken, Vasteras, Sweden, a joint stock company limited of Sweden Application August 22, 1955, Serial No. 529,748

Claims priority, application Sweden September 2, 1954 Claims. (Cl. 214-1) The present invention relates to a transfer or charging device for feeding material to vertical extrusion presses for the pressure extrusion of metal. ln such presses, blooms, ingots or billets are heated to an initial temperature suitable for the extrusion operation in a heating furnace. After such blooms or ingots have been heated, which blooms or ingots will hereinafter be referred to as blanks, they are thereafter placed in the blank receiving receptacle of the press, from which the blank is forced through a die by the action of a pressure plunger,

forced through the receptacle in accordance with prior "f practice. The suitably heated blank is transferred in accordance with usual prior practice from the furnace to the press manually, by means of tongs or the like, and deposited in the receptacle of the press. However, the continuing requirement for blanks of increasing weight has resulted in the fact that this work of transfer can be performed manually only with increasing difficulty and a number of dilferent forms of construction have, heretofore, been suggested for mechanizing the operation, that is, by placing the furnace on such a level above the press, the blanks can slide by gravity from the heating furnace into the receptacle of the press. ln doing so, however, the blank is required to be guided so that it will take the correct direction into the bore of the receptacle. Furthermore, construction difficulties are frequently encountered in placing the furnace -on a Sulliciently high level above the press.

The present invention contemplates an arrangement by means of which blanks may be mechanically transferred from the furnace which they leave in a substantially horizontal position to the container of the press to which they are delivered in a vertical position, without requiring either manual operation or that the heating furnace must be located on a higher level than the blank receiving receptacle of the press.

Apparatus embodying the invention is substantially characterized by the provision of a basket or an equivalent floating member which is arranged to receive a horizontally placed blank and to discharge the same in a vertical position, centrally above the container bore of the receptacle of the press, while the basket is tilted from a position having a horizontal axis to a position having a vertical axis and wherein means are provided which prevent the blank during such tilting movement of the basket, from dropping out of the basket before the blank has reached a vertical position substantially in central alignment with the bore of the blank receptacle of the press.

To this end the blank receiving basket is appropriately pivoted so as to permit the tilting thereof, for example, by means of a fork, which is vshiftably arranged with respect to a retainer, to which retainer there is also attached a link, the free end of the link being secured to the basket in eccentric relation to the tilting axis of the basket, so that, upon shifting or displacement of the fork, the basket will be tilted by the action of the link, the link being arranged with respect to the retainer in i such a way, that during the first part of the shifting of the fork, toward the bore of the receptacle, the link will slide in its tting in the retainer.

The members for preventing the blank from being discharged from the basket too soon, may advantageously constitute guides fixed to the fork below the level of the basket, which guides will hold the blank and prevent it from falling out of the basket during the tilting motion thereof. The guides may advantageously be attached to the support for the fork at a place between the basket and the retainer which carries the fork in its support, in order to make possible the introduction of the blanks into the open end of the basket from that end of the basket. opposite the retainer.

The invention is diagrammatically shown in the accompanying drawings.

Figure l is a sectional plan view through a press with an associated transfer device for the blanks, the arrangement being shown in full lines in a position for receiving a blank from the furnace and in dotted lines in a position preparatory to discharging the blank into the press.

Figure 2 is a detail view of the transfer device and the press, the transfer device being shown in discharging position.

Figure 3 is a vertical view partly in section along the line lll-III of Figure l, the parts, however, being shown in full lines as distinguished from the parts in question in Figure l.

Figure 4 is a vertical section along the line lV-IV in Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a sectional detail view on an enlarged scale of the attachment of the link in the retainer.

In the drawing reference numeral 1 designates a heating furnace wherein the heated blanks are fed out of the furnace, for example, by means of the pusher means 2. The blanks are carried from the furnace in the chute 3 and enter the basket 4, which for the receptlon of the blanks is then in a horizontal position. The basket 4 is pivotally supported in the fork 5 by means of the pivots 6. The leg 7 of the fork 5 is formed as a connecting rod, which is arranged for travel in a cylinder 8 serving as a retainer, wherein it is operated in a manner not shown, for example, by means of a pressure medium such as compressed air. The cylinder 8 is xed to an arm 9, which is pivotally supported by a shaft 10, which is fixed in the base in a way not shown.

The arrangement may then be turned abo-ut the shaft 10 from the position shown in full lines in Figure l, in which the blank is received, to the position shown in dotted lines, in which the basket is in alignment with the receptacle bore 12 of the press 11, the latter position constituting the prepared position for feeding the blank to the bore of the receptacle. For this purpose the basket is also connected to the retainer, that is the cylinder S, by means of a link 13, which is pivotally supported at one of its ends by 14 at the basket 4. The pivot point 14 is oifset from the axis of tilting of the basket. which is established by the pivots 6. Furthermore, the link 13 is shiftable relative to the cylinder' 8, the link being carried through for ctample, a girnbal mounting 15 (Figure 5), the movement of the link being limited by stop rings 16 and 17.

Upon discharge of a blank the connecting rod 7 is moved by the fork 5 and the basket 4 into the position shown in Figure 2. The basket 4 then is tilted by the action of the link 13 into vertical position, whereupon the blank will slide into the bore 12 of the receptacle in the press. Guides 18 are fixed to the shaft 7 of the fork and prevent the blank from Vfalling out of the basket before the basket has reached its correct position above the bore of the receptacle. lDue to the fact that the guides 18 are arranged between the basket 4 and the cylinder 8 it will be possible to enter the blanks into the basket from the side facing from the retainer arrangement 8, 9 and 10.

The nature of the arrangement is such that it wiil lend itself to be made entirely automatic or semi-automatic. In the former case the starting may be performed for example, upon impulses from the movements of the press and in the latter case the arrangement may be started manually, for example, by means of a push button.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment shown and described but may be varied within wide limits with-- in the scope of the claims.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention and in which manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is:

l. An apparatus for receiving a billet in a horizontal position from a billet furnace and for transferring said billet to a vertically disposed receptacle of an extrusion press, said apparatus comprising an arm mounted for pivotal movement about a vertical axis, a cylinder carried by said arm, a piston reciprocably received in said cylinder, a fork member carried by said piston, a tubular billet receiving basket open at both ends and pivotally mounted between the arms of said fork member for movement about a horizontal axis, an actuating rod pivotally secured at one end to said basket at a point remote from said fork member, a guide member on said cylinder, the opposite end of said rod being slidably received in said guide member, spaced stop collars fixed to said rod on opposite sides of said guide member and downwardly extending curved billet supporting fingers mounted on said piston and disposed below said fork member whereby upon movement of said piston to move said fork member away from said cylinder one of said stop collars will engage said slide member and cause said rod to move said basket from a horizontal to a vertical position, said tingers retaining a billet in said basket until the same reaches a vertical position and upon retracting said piston the other stop collar will engage said guide member and said rod will return said basket to horizontal position.

2. An apparatus for receiving a billet in a horizontal position from a billet furnace and for transferring said billet to a vertically disposed receptacle of an extrusion press, said apparatus comprising an arm mounted for pivotal movement about a vertical axis, a cylinder carried by said arm, a piston reciprocably received in said cylinder, a fork member carried by said piston, a tubular billet receiving basket open at both ends and pivotally mounted between the arms of said fork member for movement about a horizontal axis, an actuating rod pivotally secured at one end to said basket at a point remote from said fork member, a guide member on said cylinder, the opposite end of said rod being slidably received in said guide member, spaced stop collars fixed to said rod on opposite sides of said guide member and billet supporting means mounted on said piston and disposed below said fork member whereby upon movement of said piston to move said fork member away from said cylinder one of said stop collars will engage said guide member and cause said rod to move said basket from a horizontal to a vertical position, said supporting means retaining a billet in said basket until the same reaches a vertical position and upon retracting said piston the other stop collar will engage said guide member and said rod will return said basket to horizontal position.

3. An apparatus for receiving a billet in a horizontal position from a billet furnace and for transferring said billet to a vertically disposed receptacle of an extrusion press, said apparatus comprising an arm mounted for pivotal movement about a vertical axis, a cylinder carried by said arm, a piston reciprocably received in said cylinder, a tubular billet receiving basket open at both ends and pivotally mounted on said piston for movement about a horizontal axis, an actuating rod pivotally secured at one end to said basket at a point remote from lill said piston, a guide member on said cylinder, the opposite end of said rod being slidably received in said guide member, spaced stop collars fixed to said rod on opposite sides of said guide member and billet supporting means mounted on said piston and disposed below said basket whereby upon movement of said piston to move said basket away from said cylinder one of said stop collars will engage said guide member and cause said rod to move said basket from a horizontal to a vertical position, said supporting means retaining a billet in said basket until the same reaches a vertical position and upon retracting said piston the other stop collar will engage said guide member and said rod will return said basket to horizontal position.

4. An apparatus for receiving a billet in a horizontal position from a billet furnace and for transferring said billet. to a vertically disposed receptacle of an extrusion press, said apparatus comprising an arm mounted for pivotal movement about a vertical axis, a cylinder carried by said arm, a piston reciprocably received in said cylinder, a tubular billet receiving basket open at both ends and pivotally mounted on said piston for movement about a horizontal axis, an actuating rod pivotally secured at one end to said basket at a point remote from said piston, a guide member on said cylinder. the opposite end of said rod being slidably received in said guide member, spaced stop collars fixed to said rod on opposite sides of said guide member and billet supporting means disposed below said basket whereby upon movement of said piston to move said basket away from said cylinder one of said stop collars will engage said guide member and cause said rod to move said basket from a horizontal to a vertical position, said supporting means retaining a billet in said basket until the same reaches a vertical position and upon retracting said piston the other stop collar will engage said guide member and said rod will return said basket to horizontal position.

5. An apparatus for receiving a billet in a horizontal position from a billet furnace and for transferring said billet to a vertically disposed receptacle olj an extrusion press, said apparatus comprising an arm mounted [or pivotal movement about a vertical axis, extensible and retractable means carried by said arm. u tubular billet receiving basket open at both ends and pivotally mounted on said means lor movement about a horizontal axis. an actuating rod pivotally secured at one end to said basket. a guide member carried by said '.rrm, the opposite end of said rod being slidably received in said guide member. spaced stop collars fixed to said rod on opposite sides ol said guide member and billet supporting means disposed below said basket whereby upon movement ol said extensible and retractable means to move said basket away from said arm one ot' said stop collars will engage said guide member and cause said rod to move said basket from a horizontal to a vertical position, said supporting means retaining a billet in said basket until the same reaches a vertical position and upon retraeting said extensible and retractable means the other stop collar will engage said guidc member and said rod and will return said basket to horizontal position.

References Cited in the lilc of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTE:

1,947,610 McNamara A Feb. ld, i934 2,323,083 Foner lune 9, 1943 2,697,529 Hubbell et al. v Elec. 2i, i954 FOREIGN PATENTS 620,244 Germany Ost. l), 1935 636,744 Germany Get. i5, |936 704,832 Germany Apr. 8, '|941 l60,925 Australia Feb. 3, i955 

